Refine the Moments
by Leiko Mika
Summary: The effects of a mental breakdown make Sherry turn to the only one she can. BragoxSherry, longer than oneshot.
1. Contorted Azure Eyes

Hello, hello, hello. Thank you for picking out this story right here to read. Thanks to TwilightMemories and EtherealSinger for the title. Anyway, idea that popped into my mind a little while ago. I meant to write this about a week ago, but it's here now, so whatever. A little BragoxSherry story for you all. Nice, no? Oh, my brain went dead somewhere towards the end, just hang with me on that.

Disclaimer: Okay, it is one in the morning and I only slept for about five hours, do not make me do this

* * *

The sun came through the curtains, landing on the young woman's face. Her azure orbs opened for a moment, but then quickly closed, protesting against the sudden entrance of light. The girl rolled over onto her side, facing away from the window, but quickly thought better. _If I stay in this bed, Brago'll have a fit_, she thought, sitting up in her bed and swinging her legs over the side. The now mostly awake blond rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes just as someone opened the door to her room.

"Good, you're up. Hurry up and get ready, we've got a lot of training to do today," the man said as he closed the door.

Sherry sighed and stood up. _May as well hurry, don't want him too mad today_. She walked into the bathroom and started the shower water and hung a towel on the near by towel rack. Quickly undressing and stepping into the shower, Sherry felt calm in the water. Calm and able to think deeply without being interrupted. She mused over the past and the probable future. Past battles, acquaintances, and down time she had. There were a few days about a month ago that she and Brago spent on the beach waiting for an enemy to show up. Sherry had even seen Brago standing in the shallow water without his shoes on for a little bit. But that time was over. Sherry quickly thought of the future. _There are probably stronger opponents out there, now that the battle's been going on for a while_, she thought to her self as she washed her arms. _Probably more under Zophise's control, too_.

Thinking of Zophise led Sherry's mind to start thinking of Koko, her closest friend and now the book keeper of one of her greatest enemies. Sherry had seen a few bookkeepers who were nothing by mindless drones now. They had no expression, but they would talk about how resistance against Zophise was futile. Suddenly all Sherry could think of was Koko. There was a picture of her in Sherry's mind, but she was different, even more so than when she first lost her heart to Zophise's power. This Koko had no expression, and yet was smiling. Not only smiling, but laughing. Her eyes were blank and her arms out stretched as if she was embracing her power. Everything was black except for Koko and Zophise standing behind her along with a large pile of burning mamono books.

Sherry quickly tried to get the horrifying picture out of her mind. She shook her head, but it did not work. The laughing got louder. Sherry switched the water temperature to cold and stuck her face in the rain of cold liquid, but that did not help either. Sherry could hear Koko's sweet voice more clearly now. Or at least the once sweet voice. Power had tainted the voice with an evil and cruel tinge and it was most prominent in Sherry's mind at the moment. The sickening laugh got louder and louder until it was ringing in Sherry's ears. She needed it to stop, and to stop right the, but it continued on. Just on, and on, and on….

------------------

Brago sat in the kitchen waiting for Sherry. _What is taking that girl so long to get out of that damn shower? She doesn't normally spend _this _long in it_, Brago thought to him self after glancing at a near by clock on the wall. Letting out an aggravated breath, Brago stood up and walked upstairs to Sherry's bath room. He heard the water running more clearly now and it aggravated him even more. _Since when are her showers this long?_

"Sherry, hurry up!" Brago yelled as he banged on the door.

He expected to hear Sherry say something back, but all he heard was the running water. He opened the door and walked in, taking a quickly glance around to make sure Sherry was not out of the shower and had just left the water running. Not seeing the girl with illustrious cerulean eyes, the demonic mamono walked over to the shower, expecting to see his bookkeeper zoned out and washing her hair or something of the like. But to his surprise he did not even see Sherry. Brago opened the shower door and saw something he was not expecting.

Sherry was sitting in the far corner of the shower hugging her knees, shuddering. She was breathing quickly and Brago could tell that her heart was beating as if she was running for her life from a large animal. He stared at her for a moment, dumbfounded. He had never seen her so distressed and it shocked him just a little bit. Shaking away the shock, Brago turned off the water and grabbed some towels. Thinking that it would be best to get Sherry out of the shower, Brago wrapped a few towels around his bookkeeper, picked her up, and put her down near a wall. He then took off his cape and put it on her shoulders to help her warm up, now that her towels were wet and thus also cold. He sat so he could lean against the wall and just stared at the girl, waiting for her to respond in some way.

------------------------------

Sherry felt as if her brain were on fire. She could now only see Koko's laughing face and the flames from the burning books, but the mental picture was still terrifying. Her vision was blurred from her mental trauma, but she could still see. She saw the water running in front of her, as if to help stop the fire in her mind. Then she saw Brago open the shower door. She saw him turn of the water and then he disappeared. Some part of her was relieved when she saw Brago, but it was not enough to make the continuous flames in her head subside. Sherry somehow managed to shut her eyes in an attempt to suppress the flames, but her efforts were in vain. All the shutting of her eyes did was make them more blurry when she opened them again. She suddenly felt the water stop cascading over her curled up body and then her senses stopped working all together. There was only darkness, Koko, fire, and Koko's melodious yet evil laugh. The next thing Sherry comprehended was sitting on the cold tile floor with something draped over her.

Sherry could also see her demonic companion staring at her from his spot leaning against the wall. The two weren't very far away, there only being a space of two inches between Brago's crossed legs and Sherry's trembling knees. Brago was aware of Sherry coming back to her senses, but could tell that she still had a long way to go before she could yell at him for coming into her bathroom, let alone read any spells.

"Brago…?" Sherry said in a small, weak voice. "Hold me…"

Brago's eyes opened a little wider than they were at Sherry's request, but his surprise went away when he realized that she was asking for a form of comfort. Without thinking, Brago sat up from the wall. He could see Sherry somehow managing scoot forward and then remembered what Sherry had said only a few seconds before. He unfolded his arms and brought Sherry close to his body in a warm, comforting hug. At least he hoped it was warm and comforting. He unfolded his legs in order to bring Sherry closer to his body, for he could tell that part of her shuddering was from lack of heat. There were goose bumps all over her exposed skin, and Brago could feel them as he hugged the wet blond.

Sherry was huddled in a wet ball against Brago's bare chest, but through the fiery laughter she felt comfort. Half of the pain she was feeling was from the one person who cared about Sherry and would risk anything for was no against her, but Sherry now felt comfort from another. At realizing that Brago also cared about her, Sherry managed to fight off half of Koko's mirth. With less mental strain to deal with, Sherry gained more presence in the real world and wrapped her arms around Brago's torso. Her heart rate slowed as did her trembling, but they still remained.

Sherry's heart rate went back to its normal rate after about half an hour, but she was still trembling. She could still hear Koko laughing in her head, but it was much quieter, now that she found another who cares about her. A true friend. She realized that he was not the nicest person in the world, but he cared and his arms were comforting, which was all Sherry cared about at that moment.

Brago waited patiently for Sherry to stop trembling in his arms. When she finally did, he could feel her doze off for a few minutes, but then she was awake again. Testing her vocal cords, Sherry cleared her throat and muttered three words.

"Thank you, Brago."

After saying those words, Sherry squeezed Brago a little, as if to give him a little hug, but the loosened her grip so her arms hung lazily around Brago's torso, yet tightly at the same time. The quiet words hung in the air for a moment, but Brago was done waiting. He realized that the two of them had wasted about an hour of precious training time. But then he realized that training should probably be the last thing on his mind now. _It took a lot for her to squeak out her thank you. It sounds like she's going to need to take a while to say anything today, let alone spells_, he thought. But tired of sitting down on the tile floor, Brago sat up from leaning against the wall.

"Sherry, it's time to move on. Get up and put some clothes on."

Sherry gave a weak nod and seemed to try to shift her wait so she could stand up. But her body did not respond to the attempt to stand. It just stayed on the floor hugging Brago. Having realized that Sherry was not going to stand on her own, let alone dress her self, he stood up, picked her up, and carried her to her room.

* * *

There's the first chapter.

Please R&R

Second chapter on the way soon.


	2. Struggled Morning Routine

-sigh- I'm sorry this took so long to update. What with school, swimming, volleyball, and social life (friends and family) I have, I haven't really had any free time to get a lot of this done. But I've become a slight insomniac, so I'm okay with the lack of sleep. I still feel bad for taking forever to update this... -sigh- Oh well! It's here now and that's all that matters, right? Anyway, some of this was written while I was really tired, so bear with me. Also, this was written in lots of little parts due to lack of time to write, so excuse me if there are any major inconsistencies... I don't think there are any since I went through and edited it, but I may have missed something. Oh well. Ce la vie...

Disclaimer: Come on! Would I waste time here if I actually owned this stuff?

* * *

"Damn weak humans…" Brago grumbled as he carried his mostly limp bookkeeper to her room. "First we have to pair up with them, and then this one of all people has to have a breakdown." 

Brago continued grumbling to himself as he carried the half conscious Sherry to her room. She was still only clad in a few towels and his cape, but that did not matter. She was still weak and Brago knew it. _What made her ball herself up in the corner of the shower, anywa_y? he thought to himself as he opened the door to her room.

Walking through the threshold, Brago dropped Sherry on her bed and walked over to her closet. At first he was surprised at how large it was, but was even more surprised at the amount of clothing that he _had not_ seen that was in her closet. Hanging in organized groups were multiple skirts and blouses, different shoes, and a large assortment of dresses. Of to his right he saw a few piles of boxes, supposedly full of other unworn clothes. To his left there were a few drawers and a rack of dresses that Brago had actually seen Sherry wearing. Her normal pink dress, a white one that he had seen a few times recently, and a few others she had worn whenever they had stayed around the house for a few days before going on another excursion.

Walking over to a bureau near Sherry's regular dresses, he opened drawer after drawer in order to find what he was looking for. _Swimsuits, shoes, shirts, skirts, more shirts. Dammit, where are they? More shirts... found it_, he thought to himself as he opened a draw to the top right of the bureau. Knowing what he knew about human attire, Brago had figured that he would need to find Sherry undergarments before putting any initial clothing on her. He picked up a suitable pair of underwear, but then stopped as he moved to pick up a bra. He noticed the clasps and he just did not feel the need to try and figure them out. He then noticed a pile of tank-top like shirts with a kind of built in bra and decided to grab the slim white one that was on top of the stack instead.

After finding underwear, Brago moved to the rack with Sherry's usual dresses on them. Figuring that he would have to dress Sherry himself, he decided to find a simple dress with no clasps or laces. Nonchalantly combing through the dresses, he found a plain blue dress that he could simply pull over Sherry's head and zip up the back. The dress its self was very plain with a small design in a darker blue around the bottom hem, waist, and tank top sleeves, but it was still nice. Brago grabbed the dress and walked out of Sherry's large closet.

Now completely sure that Sherry would not be able to dress herself, Brago dropped the clothes and just stared at her for a moment. He contemplated asking a maid to dress her and dressing Sherry himself. The latter won do to the fact that he would first have to find a maid, second ask her to dress her employer, and third explain the reason for the need; three things Brago did not want to do. _Damn weak human..._ he thought as he picked up the camisole. Thinking twice before dressing her, Brago walked over to the door and closed it to keep any servants eyes out. _Always making my life difficult_, he thought as he walked back over to the bed.

Putting Sherry's arms through their respective arm holes, Brago pulled the camisole over her head and pulled it down until it hung comfortably off of her shoulders and hugged her torso. Next he picked up the dress and did the same thing with it that he had done with the camisole. Still sitting on a few towels on the bed, the bottom half of the dress just sat crumpled around Sherry's waist. Thinking of how difficult it would be to lift Sherry and put her underwear on at the same time, Brago just left the undergarment sitting next to Sherry. He thought it would be best to let her do it herself once she managed to stand on her own.

Walking out of the room, Brago walked to the bathroom to see if anything was too out of place, but there was nothing and he moved on. Walking down the stairs, he made his way to the door so he could go spend the day sitting in the woods. Possibly hunt some fish or something, but not really do anything productive. But as he bent over to put on his shoes, a thought struck him…

-----------

Sherry sat in on her bed half clothed and half aware of her surroundings. She looked down at herself, but did not completely take in her appearance. She sat on her bed for twenty minutes longer, or at least that is what she thought was twenty minutes. The time it took for her to regain most of her consciousness was actually closer to a span of an hour. She managed to stand up, uncrinkling her dress and making her head spin in the process. Leaning against the nearest bed post and just breathed in and out and closed her eyes for a little bit before trying to continue on. Once her mind cleared, she opened her eyes and took in her surrounds. The morning sun was pouring into her room quite brightly, and there were a few towels sitting on her bed, along with a pair of underwear. At that moment she realized that she herself was not wearing any underwear and, careful to not move too much in order too keep her head from swimming, put on the underwear.

Slowly moving over to her window, Sherry noticed herself in a standing mirror. She noticed that her hair was still slightly damp, but then she noticed what she was wearing. The last thing she remembered was not wearing anything and taking a shower, but now she was wearing a pretty blue dress that she only vaguely remembered. She slowly turned, looking at herself from as many angles as she could. The turning made her feel a little dizzy, so Sherry continued her trek to the window and sat down on the window seat.

_What happened?_ Sherry thought to herself, fingering her damp hair. _I got up, I brushed my teeth, I took a shower…_her thoughts trailed off after she remembered her shower. Then, in a mental whirlwind, her thoughts were consumed by the fire of hundreds of mamono books, but the thought only lasted a moment. There was a tap on the door and Sherry's thoughts immediately cleared.

"Come in," Sherry said, in a soft, strained voice.

"Ummm… Ms. Sherry?" a maid said as she timidly opened the door.

"Maria?" Sherry said she say the maid. Clearing her throat, she said in a weak voice, "What's wrong? You're as white as a sheet…."

"Oh, it's nothing, Ms. Sherry," Maria exclaimed. "Your friend is just a little frightening when he actually walks up to you and tells you to do something," she said, walking over to the window.

"Brago talked to you?" Sherry asked, confused. _What made him do that?_

"Oh," Maria started as she sat a small tray down on the window seat. "He told me to make sure you ate something this morning," she stated, gesturing towards the small tray. "Once you're done you can just leave it here, I'll come get it later." And on this note, Maria walked over to the open door, walked out of it, and closed it behind her.

_Brago actually _talked _to one of my maids? _Sherry wondered to herself as he nibbled at the piece of bacon. Leaning against the wall of the window seat, Sherry rested her head against the glass window, gazing out towards the forest and beyond, silently musing._ I wonder... why he did that...?_

* * *

Volia! Tis chapter two, I'm sorry again for the long wait.

R&R please. It would make me oh so very happy.

If you flame at me, I will reply back with very... -erm- _colorful_ language, capisca?


End file.
